"Name?"
Lavender's voice came from behind the oil lamp. With the light in her eyes, Hermione could barely make her out.
"Don't you already know?" Hermione asked helplessly.
"Ahem! Mind your attitude." Lavender's voice drifted mysteriously. "This is a divination ritual! Professor Trelawney says rituals are very important in Divination."
Hermione pursed her lips, rather speechless.
Truthfully, she had little faith in anyone's divination except Silan's.
That was precisely why she hadn't chosen Professor Trelawney's Divination class.
"Hermione Granger." Hermione gave in.
"Very good. That's the right attitude." Parvati sounded just like Lavender. They had certainly learned from the same teacher.
"Tell me, why have you come for a reading?"
"Didn't you two ask me to?" Hermione said irritably.
"Tell us the truth."
"Fine," Hermione said, her head aching. "You asked me to... all right, all right, it was me. I wanted a reading about Silan and me. Is that good enough?"
The oil lamp was suddenly moved farther away.
It took quite a while for Hermione's vision to recover fully.
Only then did she notice that Lavender and Parvati were both sitting opposite her, wearing hoods. They looked mysterious, very much like witches.
"Shh."
Lavender closed her eyes, her brow furrowing strangely as her voice grew indistinct. "I can hear it... the echoes of fate."
"That's probably just a clock on the wall," Hermione muttered.
Professor McGonagall had once said that Divination was the least rigorous branch of magic.
Hermione thoroughly agreed.
If Silan's predictions hadn't always come true, Hermione might have had even less patience with the subject.
"Listen, Hermione." Parvati brought over a cup of tea and said gravely, "You need to drink the tea until only the leaves remain, then swirl them around the cup three times with your left hand and turn the cup upside